Sunday, 24 July 2016

Toft

Had a trip north this weekend, to Toft ferry terminal. You may think that this would not be a good place for wildlife as it can be very busy.

Well the otters who have a holt under the pier don't seem to mind. It is possible the best place to see otters close up. On this visit I was watching a Red Throated Diver which had come close in the bay, it then suddenly flew off in a bit of a panic.

An Otter suddenly appeared very close to the shore, about 15 feet away and started to dive for food. After a few minutes a crowd had gathered and it at first it didn't seem bothered, but as soon as some noisy children came for a look it dived and disappeared. I have had several otter encounters here including one memorable one where two otters came up onto the road and walked down beside a line of cars towards us, then when about 6 feet away split up and went back into the sea

A good number of terns seem to catching large sand eels which they brought back to young birds on the beach and jetty, it looks like a good year for all seabirds, certainly excellent news lets hope next year and the following years are good as well

Apart from a few Herring and the odd Gt Black Backed gull it was virtually easy going for the terns, only one Gt Skua passed chasing a Herring Gull. It may be that with many birds bringing in food the Skuas may not be travelling far from their nest sites .

Only one Kittiwake was seen and it spent the whole time resting on the jetty, with numbers so low in Shetland it will take them time to recover

An enjoyable few hours before we went to see friends close by. They had seen the pod of Killer Whales in Mossbank which have been seen close up over the past few days, a lot of people seeing these either at Sumburgh or near Tesco in Lerwick, as usual we missed them.

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About Me

Shetland is a magical place to visit and even better to live in. You really feel close to nature, there is so much to see and learn. The landscape is for ever changing under the wind blown sky. Its a place where you can make a difference, where recording and undertaking wildlife surveys do make you feel that you are connecting with nature.
Shetland has to be one of the best UK destinations for photography. The light is so clear and crisp, the weather is constantly changing giving superb cloud formations.
Being a dark site destination Shetland is always going to be great for astrophotography, although very challenging with windy nights.
I use Nikon D610 , D7100 & Sony A7s cameras with a sigma 500 + 800 mm lenses as well as a 105 macro Nikon, Samyang 14 mm & 24mm .Contact shetsip@gmail.com